Economic Development Strategic Plan Services

The Vendor is required to provide the economic development strategic plan aims to position the city on a path toward a resilient, sustainable, and vibrant economy.
- The study is intended to offer city staff, community leaders, and stakeholders a basis for formulating community-specific economic development priorities, policy alternatives, and intervention strategies, including land use and zoning decisions.
•    Completing an economic analysis of castle pines and its economic relationship to counties.
•    Include retail leakage analysis and strategic response as part of economic market analysis to identify specific revenue opportunities. 
•    Analysis to include i-25 connectivity as economic asset vs barrier.
•    Identify current and potential and future business industries that align with the regions and the
•    City’s competitive advantages and existing challenges.
•    Identifying specific real estate locations that can be used as economic generators and catalysts for targeted industry growth.
•    Identifying a clear and dynamic job growth strategy as well as gaps and challenges for job creation in the city.
•    Identify regional competitive positioning strategy emphasizing authenticity over direct competition, along with pedestrian-friendly commercial environment development opportunities and branding strategies that turn small size into an exclusivity advantage.
•    Identifying catalytic, adaptive reuse, infill, and redevelopment opportunities that complement existing character and economic profile.
•    Compiling baseline employment assumptions and future projections based on land availability and key sector opportunities; identifying future housing needs that future employment projections will induce.
•    The creation of a commercial brand that can be incorporated into the overall commercial marketing and communications brand. 
•    The brand should create a unified identity given the two distinct commercial areas on either side of i-25.
•    Recommending strategic partnerships to maximize and leverage economic growth and workforce development.
•    Developing an economic development incentive strategy, policy, and toolbox targeted at supporting projects that complement our community and diverse economy. 
•    The toolbox should connect to the numerous economic development organizations that support local commercial development.
•    Developing implementation recommendations to achieve real, long-term population, business, and tax base growth and stability for castle pines.
- Public outreach (required engagement plan may supplement these requirements):
•    One public open house to gain community input.
•    Online surveys with businesses and stakeholders, and in-person interviews to ensure accurate baseline and future goals information. 
•    Focus on quality over quantity with strategic interviews of business leaders and majority demographic residents rather than broad community meetings.
•    City council and planning commission presentations of draft results.
•    Additional engagement identified by the consultant team through the engagement plan
- Citywide economic analysis
a. Economic Market Analysis and Opportunities
•    Provide a detailed economic market analysis of castle pines and its economic relationship to the surrounding county.
•    The analysis should identify current and potential and future business sectors and clusters that can lead to sustainable, scalable, and future growth in the region while aligning with the city’s competitive advantages and existing challenges.
b. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis
•    The consultant team will prepare a SWOT analysis of the existing economic base and potential future market focus.
•    ALSO identify internal and external factors that favorably and unfavorably influence economic development in the city.
- Economic development action plan
•    Economic development activities, projects, and programs to implement the objectives, goals, and opportunities identified in task 2 and within the comprehensive plan. 
•    Future development targets and business attraction strategies for potential or future business sectors and clusters can lead to sustainable, scalable, and future growth in the region and align with the city’s competitive advantages and existing challenges. 
•    This should also include a list of development targets, based on the land use in the comprehensive plan. 
•    The creation of a commercial brand design and statement that can be incorporated into the city’s commercial marketing and economic development programs. 
•    A draft business retention and expansion program with policies, activities, and recommendations for encouraging current business retention and expansion in alignment with development targets. 
•    Catalytic, adaptive reuse, infill, and redevelopment opportunities, including but not limited to identifying barriers to reinvestment in older commercial areas
•    Economic development toolbox recommendations for implementing the identified economic development strategies, including but not limited to incentives targeting the identified industries and business sections, workforce development, local hiring, small businesses retention, and other identified priorities and opportunities. 
•    The toolbox should include model incentive policies, public-private partnership templates, façade improvement program examples, and tax increment financing use cases. 
•    These recommendations should highlight local and national case studies and examples when appropriate. 
•    A draft economic development incentive program with templates for benchmarking, performance and goal tracking, draft applications, recommended internal review and ranking process, and other implementation recommendations.

- Questions/Inquires Deadline: July 14, 2025